Seventy-eight years ago this month (in November 1942), the United States was embroiled in a major battle of World War 2, a battle that lasted for months and easily could have gone either way at many times.  Had we lost, many thousands of Americans would have been subjected to yet another "death march," as had already happened at Bataan.  The effect on American morale would have been devastating.   This complex battle, fought on land, at sea, and in the air, began with a blunder by the Americans, a poorly considered attack without proper preparation, from which good fortune extracted us.  On day one of the battle, an American amphibious force landed unopposed (fortunately) on the South Pacific Island of Guadalcanal.  On that day, neither the Americans nor the Japanese predicted that a six-month bloodbath was beginning.  Before it was over, thousands of Americans were killed in battle, and even more than that were...(Read Full Post)